Conor Oberst is taking Bright Eyes’ restless creative spirit into a new medium. The singer/songwriter and longtime Bright Eyes frontman has teamed with Shawn Foree to co-direct their debut film, Invention 13. The short that will premiere Sept. 26 at Los Angeles’ Beyond Fest.

Set to screen at Hollywood’s historic Egyptian Theatre, Invention 13 follows a frustrated pianist on a cold, windy night as he encounters increasingly strange obstacles while attempting to master one of Bach’s notoriously intricate Inventions. Oberst and Foree shot the film on Super 16mm over four sub-freezing nights in Obersrt’s Omaha, Ne., hometown in January, working with a 40-person crew — and three dogs.

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The film stars Emory Cohen (Rebel Ridge, The OA, Marty Supreme), newcomer Olivia Howard and professional skater Nelly Morville. It also features a voiceover from friend and collaborator Phoebe Bridgers and an accompanying score comes from Bright Eyes member Nate Walcott.

The Beyond Fest premiere will pair Invention 13 with Nobuhiko Obayashi’s 1977 Japanese horror classic Hausu, followed by a Q&A with Oberst and Foree moderated by comedian and musician Whitmer Thomas.

The filmmaking detour arrives as Oberst and Bright Eyes continue to look backward while pushing into whatever comes next. After a handful of complete performances this year in celebration of the 21st anniversaries of the twin 2005 albums I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, the band will reprise the concept Jan. 11, 12 and 14 at Brooklyn Paramount in New York. The folk rock-driven Wide Awake and the techno/pop detour Digital Ash were both released on Jan. 25, 2005, by Nebraska-based Saddle Creek and presented two very different windows into Oberst’s musical world.

Those shows will follow a fall U.S. tour, including stops at Riot Fest in Chicago (Sept. 19) and an Omaha finale on Oct. 20. Oberst recently told the New York Times that he’d been recording new music at La Frette Studios in the northern French region La Frette-sur-Seine, but declined to reveal whether it would wind up as a Bright Eyes or Oberst album, or something entirely different.

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